John Patterson “We have never seen these fossil trilobites preserved in such detail before and they are without a doubt the best-preserved trilobites ever found,” said researcher David Schneider of the University of New England in Armidale, Australia.
Trilobites are marine arthropods that lived from about 520 to 252 million years ago. Over 22,000 species are known, and countless fossils have been found, but usually only their tough exoskeletons. Soft parts of the organisms are rarely found, and they are always flattened and damaged.
But as soon as Patterson saw scans and images of the trilobite fossil, collected southwest of Marrakech, Morocco, in 2022, he knew it was something special.
“In one of the more complete specimens, all of the appendages are preserved in 3D, right down to the setae on the walking legs,” he says.
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Source: www.newscientist.com
